Running with Wolves
by I'mthefifthmarauder
Summary: Sixth Year is bound to be difficult. Remus has enough to deal with, with NEWT classes and transforming. Sirius keeps getting this weird feeling in his chest whenever he's near Remus. Lily is actually talking to James meanwhile his too best friends won't talk at all. Peter is becoming more and more distant and he's definitely hiding something. And worst of all, there's a war coming.
1. Chapter 1

"You'll be sure to write?" Remus' mother asked placing both hands on his face and standing on her toes to brush her lips to his cheek.

"Of course I will, Mum."

"And if anything happens, you make sure and tell us, alright?"

"Yes, Mum. I have to go," he urged as a high pitched whistle sounded from the scarlet steam engine fifteen feet away.

"Oh, be safe dear." She kissed him one more time for good measure, and sent him off to the train. Quickly, Remus heaved his trunk through the door, with a heavy thump and made his way down the train corridor, giving short "hello"s to a couple of people as he passed. He had to dodge a young Ravenclaw girl who seemed determined to keep him in a conversation.

His friends were sitting in a compartment near the back of the train. James and Sirius were shoving each other around and laughing, while Peter sat in the corner, looking up at them with reverence.

Sirius stopped immediately when he saw Remus at the door. James batted at his shoulder then turned, and his face broke into a grin. He grabbed Remus' trunk from him and hoisted in onto the luggage rack above their heads. Sirius just stood there, gaping at him, holding onto the windowsill like his life depended on it.

"Are you alright, Sirius?" Remus asked, eyebrow raised. Sirius snapped his mouth shut and promptly released the window. Remus sat down next to Peter.

Another high-pitched whistle cut the air, silver steam billowed up in front of the window, and the train lurched forward, rolling lazily away from the platform.

"Have a good summer then, Rem?" James asked, leaning back and taking up most of the seat on his side. Sirius kicked him away so he was forced to take up only half the space. James scowled more out of formality than actual irritation.

"Definitely could have been worse. My great Aunt came to visit. God, you have no idea…the night mare." Remus rolled his eyes and laughter pealed through the compartment. "And hiding my 'fury little problem' from her—not an experience I'll be eager to repeat."

"She doesn't know you're a werewolf?"

"She doesn't know I'm a wizard. What about you James? How was Paris?"

"Trip was cancelled. You should've seen it. He showed up—," James flipped a finger in Sirius' direction. "In the middle of the night, in the pouring rain, soaked through to the skin and knocking on my bedroom window." Sirius grinned sheepishly.

"He hid in my bedroom for three days before my parents found out. Looked a right mess, too, until my mom fixed him up, covered in b-." But the James caught Sirius' eye, suddenly stern, jaw clenched and James stopped talking abruptly.

"Why were you at James' house," Remus asked curiously, "covered in what?"

"I ran away from home. Couldn't stand it. My parents are more intolerable than ever, what with the war everyone thinks is about to happen. He said the word "war" in a whisper, as if speaking it would somehow make it happen faster.

"My parents haven't been ignoring it either. That's another reason we cancelled Paris."

"My dad says the war's been going on for years now." Remus said quietly. "That You-Know-Who's been gathering followers since before we started school and the ministry's been trying to hide the damage. That's gotten a little harder now what with all the…"

"Deaths." James finished for him.

Remus glanced out the window at the grey clouds forming on the horizon. "We're in for one hell of a year," he murmured so softy he thought the others hadn't heard him, but James let out a small sigh of agreement, Sirius nodded his head with resignation and Peter gave a small groan. The group fell into a melancholy silence. Remus played idly with the edges of a hole in his jeans.

"Do you… do you think we're really… that we're really in danger?" Peter asked, digging his fingernails apprehensively into his forearms.

"Not as long as we're at Hogwarts, Pete." James said, patting Peter's knee comfortingly, though Peter didn't look particularly reassured.

The day quickly got darker as they travelled north into the clouds that followed them the entire journey. About midday fat drops of rain began following, plastering the windows in a sheen of water so that the landscape outside was nothing but a blur of green and grey. Shortly afterward the food trolley came by.

"Thank God, Sirius said, jumping to his feet. "I'm starving." Sirius bought half the cart and spread the sweets over the seats. "Help yourself," he told them. Digging into a pile of cauldron cakes. Remus had just reached for chocolate frog when Lily Evans burst into the compartment. Her hair was mussed up and she had a slightly wild look in her eyes.

"There you are Remus, I've been looking all over for you. We have prefect duties." Remus stood up, dumping his lap full of sweets onto the ground. "Sorry, Lily, I completely forgot."

"Well, you're here now."

"Evans," James called from the window, running his fingers through his hair.

"For God's sake, just call me Lily." Lily snapped, her eyes fixed on Remus as he attempted to wrestle his prefect's badge from his trunk and pin it hastily to his chest. He snatched up a chocolate frog from the floor and followed Lily into the corridor.

"See you later Moony," said Sirius through a mouthful of cake. Remus waved once, and was gone.

"How was your summer, Remus?" Lily asked as they made their way down the corridor.

"Alright. Couldn't really have hoped for better, I suppose, as far as summers go I mean, Though, I did miss my friends. What about you?"

"It was… fairly uneventful. My sister spent most of it ignoring me with her God-awful boyfriend, Vernon," she replied scornfully. Remus chuckled lightly, rubbing the back of his neck absent mindedly. "And of course I haven't been able to tell them about You-Know-Who."

"You know about all the things that have been happening then?"

"I've been getting the _Daily Prophet_ by owl every day this summer, so yes, I know. It's really horrible what You-Know-Who and his followers have been doing, murdering people, wizards and muggles. I don't know how nobody say this coming."

"I think they did, Lily. The Ministry did anyway. They've been concealing it from the public for years, to keep the panic to a minimum I expect."

"How can they have let this happen?" Remus opened his mouth to respond, but then Lily stopped abruptly in her tracks.

"Lily? What's—," but then he looked up. Severus Snape was standing in the corridor, looking like someone who had been caught doing something he was quite sure he was allowed to. For an awkward moment the two stared each other down, refusing to break eye contact. Snape looked very much as though he would like to say something to her, but before he could, Lily looked away, grabbed Remus by the wrist and stalked past her former friend. Remus made no complaint and didn't look at Snape as he was pulled by him, though he could still feel the Slytherin's gaze burning into their backs as they walked away.

When Lily finally slowed down, Remus notices she was trembling slightly.

"Are you alright, Lily?" he asked gently.

"I… I still feel guilty that I stopped being friends with him, he—,"

"Don't," Remus told her. "He may have been you're friend, but he's never been a very good purpose. That much became obvious last year, when…"

"I know."

"Besides, we can almost guarantee he'll be fighting on the wrong side of the war when it comes down to it. You see the kinds of people he hangs out with."

"That isn't fair, Remus—,"

"Isn't it?"

"I… oh, you might be right."

"I usually am."

"Don't get cocky, Remus, it doesn't suit you."

When Remus got back to the compartment, it was just past three. The rain continued to pound heavily at the window and periodic flashed of lightning illuminated the compartment. Candy wrappers littered the floor, and Peter was fast asleep leaning against the wall, his breath misting on the window. James had taken Remus' seat next to Peter and was chewing on a pile of sweets that Sirius had clearly been trying to save for Remus, with his legs propped up on the opposite bench.

"Remus!" Sirius said when Remus came back in. "Sorry, James has gone and eaten most of your chocolate." Sirius glared at James accusingly. James crumpled the candy wrapper in his hand with a guilty grin. Remus rolled his eyes, and went to sit beside Sirius.

"Think I'll take a leaf out of Peter's book," he muttered. Within minutes he was fast asleep. When he woke up again, his head had fallen onto Sirius' shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

Every part of Remus' body was soaked through. Just minutes in the freezing rain and all four of them found themselves dripping heavily on the stone floor, shivering. Remus pulled out his wand, using it to dry his clothes with a stream of warm air, and followed his friends into the Great Hall.

The ceiling of the Great Hall reflected the storm outside. Sirius squinted at it, as though by some force of sheer will he could make the rain stop. Lightning flashed, followed closely by the rumble of thunder and Sirius jumped. Remus stifled his laughter into his sleeve, putting a hand between Sirius' shoulder blades and pushing him further down to catch up with James and Peter.

"God, I'm starving," Sirius said over the buzz of the hundreds of other students in the hall as they sat down. James stared at him incredulously.

"You just had about a dozen pounds of sweets on the train a few hours ago. How in Merlin's name are you already hungry?"

"I'm a growing boy, Prongsie, I need my food." James rolled his eyes. "I hope the sorting goes quickly this year."

"The sorting never goes quickly," grumbled Peter.

"Shut up the pair of you," said Remus, gesturing to the front of the Hall. The doors had opened, and a line of skinny, tiny little first years shuffled in behind Professor McGonogall, dripping wet and looking uncertain. McGonogall pulled out a battered looking old hat and a stool. She set the hat on the stool and stepped back. Everyone in the hall looked at it expectantly. The first years glanced around at each other, muttering their confusion. Half of them jumped when a rip in the hat split and it began to sing:

I welcome one and all of you

To Hogwarts every year

Created by the founders four,

My job was very clear,

To sort you in your houses,

That is what I'm for

And so it is for every batch

Of students evermore

And so it falls on me each year

To put you in your place

Which house will teach you best to fight

The challenges you'll face?

Come place me on you head,

And I'll, inside your mind assess

To find the house best suited to

The traits that you possess

Should you go to Ravenclaw?

Where knowledge is their prize?

This house will help you learn to see

The world through different eyes.

You might belong in Gryffindor

Where bravery is king

You'll find yourself in company of those

Who'll take you in their wing.

Or perhaps to Slytherin

You'll form such special ties

Fueled by your ambition

And through cunning will you rise.

Or else your place is Hufflepuff

If you're loving and you're loyal

This hard-working group of students

Will teach the meaning of their toil

The house to which you'll soon belong

And oh, the friends you'll make

Will stay with you forever

These bonds will never break.

But as the Sorting Hat I warn,

Be careful what you do

Or, when faced with troubles new and old

You'll find your friends are few.

If the Hogwarts houses four

Cannot, united, stand

I fear the growing danger

Will soon gain the upper hand

For every year the peril grows

And Hogwarts finds itself divided

If we cannot cooperate

We may find ourselves misguided.

But at last the time has come for me

To put you in your place

So step up one and all of you

Don't hesitate, make haste.

The sorting hat settled back onto the stool looking as if it had never moved at all and the students in the Great Hall burst into respectful applause, though it was interspersed by curious muttering form all around the Hall.

"It's doing that thing again," James whispered, "Where it warns us to keep our friends close and to stay united and all that."

"It's this war. It thinks the only way we can defeat You-Know-Who is by coming together and defeating him as one," Remus replied.

"Coming together? There's no way I'm working with Snivellus and his friends. They're practically Death Eaters already," said Sirius.

"Settle down, students," Professor McGonagall called form the top of the hall. "Now, when I call your name please put the Sorting Hat on your head and you will be sorted into your houses." McGonagall pulled a scroll form her cloak unrolled it, and read, "Aaron, Taylor." The poor boy shuffled up to the stool, nearly tripping on the way and put the hat on his head.

"Five galleons says he's a Hufflepuff," Sirius said leaning in to whisper in Remus' ear. The kid sat on the stool for several minutes, but then the Hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!" Remus help his hand out to Sirius under the table.

"Damn." Scowling, Sirius reached into his pocket, pulled out five galleons and plopped them into Remus' hand with a disgruntled sigh. Remus smirked. Sirius continued to scowl through the sorting of "Abbot, Melody", "Abell, Jack", "Abernathy, Lucy" and "Allamby, Nicholas" but by "Bracewell, Thomas" who became the first new Gryffindor, he seemed to have forgotten, and by "Eloise Fletcher," ("RAVENCLAW!") he was complaining about the lack of food again.

The sorting ended with Alexander Wright who took his place at the Hufflepuff table, and the headmaster stood, his arms outstretched, smiling softly through his silver beard.

"Welcome students, to another year at Hogwarts," Professor Dumbledore announced. "I have many things that must be addresses, but I shall not distract you all from the wonderful feast you are all about to enjoy." With that, he sat down, and the tables filled suddenly with mounds of food. Several of the new students gasped. Sirius didn't hesitate to dig in. Remus watched him for a minute—Sirius brushed his hair behind his ear—before spooning mashed potatoes and turkey onto his plate.

"House elves really out did themselves this year," Sirius said through his mouthful of steak. Remus gave him an exasperated huff in response.

"You say that every year, Sirius," James told him.

"It's always true." And Sirius stuffed another fork of steak into his mouth.

"I agree with Sirius on this one," Peter said.

"Yeah, but you'd join You-Know-Who if he offered you a big enough buffet," James quipped. The little group burst into laughter.

"Would not," said Peter, setting his fork down and folding his arms over his chest. He remained distinctly determined not to eat another bite the rest of the meal, though he did look longingly at the puddings that lined the table when dinner had finished. Remus resolved to save a little bit of it to give to Peter later that night.

When most of the students had finished eating, Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet once more.

"I should hope you all had a wonderful meal. First, I would like to remind all students that The Forbidden Forest, is just that—Forbidden, as it is particularly dangerous, especially now."

"What does he mean by that?" Sirius asked."

"Shhh!" Remus elbowed him in the ribs.

"Oof! Hey, there's no need to be rude."

"I'm listening to Dumbledore."

"Mr. Filch has asked me to tell you all that dueling in the corridors is not permitted, and anyone found doing so will be punished accordingly. Mr. Filch also has a list of banned items on his door which I encourage you all to look over at some point in the next few weeks.

"Anyone who would like to try out for their House Quidditch team should give their name to their house heads. They will be provided with dates for the try-outs and other such necessary information.

I would also like to introduce a new member of staff this year, Professor Lunly who has kindly agreed to take over the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"I wonder what happened to Old Rigby," Sirius interrupted again.

"Shut up, will you?" Remus told him.

"As some of you may be aware, the wizard who calls himself Lord Voldemort" (several people in the hall gasped. Peter jumped so badly he moved the entire bench underneath them) "has officially become a threat as classified by the Ministry of Magic over the summer. For this reason Hogwarts will be subject to a series of much more advanced protections than in previous years. I do not want students to feel afraid. While at Hogwarts you will all be perfectly safe. These new precautions should do nothing to hinder the education of any of you while you are here this year. Now, I wish all of you a good night."

As soon as he had finished speaking the buzz of students in the hall grew back into a dull roar. Stepping out from his seat, Sirius yawned, stretching his arms above his head. A strip of skin peaked out from beneath his shirt. Remus looked away. When the four of them got back into their dormitory at the top of Gryffindor Tower, Remus quickly put on his pajamas closed the curtains around himself and dropped to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Sirius waited in his bedroom, tapping subconsciously on his bedpost. The bowtie around his neck was uncomfortably tight and his dress robes made him feel out of place and uncomfortable. It was only a matter of minutes before his mother shoved Kreacher up the stairs to come find him. Or even worse, she came up to drag him down the stairs herself.

Sirius had locked his bedroom door. Not that it would keep out his mother, or the creepy house elf. Still, it was one more barrier between him and the dinner that was currently happening downstairs.

He stared at his reflection in the window. His hair looked awful. His mom had forced him to cut it, and while it wasn't so short by her standards, compared to how he usually wore it, it looked horrible. And it would take several months for it to grow back. He ruffled it up irately, trying to make it seem less _proper_.

Sirius whipped around to the heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. Someone pounded against the door. Then, with a bang, the door was thrown open.

His mother.

"Sirius Orion Black, get back downstairs this instant," she said shrilly. When, rather than following her out the door, he took a step backwards, she marched into his room, grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him along with her, her fingernails digging into his shoulder hard enough to break the skin, and shoved him down the stairs in front of her. He barely managed to avoid falling on the face by grabbing the railing and throwing himself against the wall.

"Get a move on," his mother snapped. Grudgingly, Sirius continued down the stairs, shaking his hair from his face once more for good measure.

The drawing room was full of people Sirius hated. Old families, people he'd met and disliked, people he'd never met, but knew he disliked anyway. Abraxas Malfoy and his pig of a son Lucius were there. The blond boy was near his age. They had gone to school together for a few years, but Malfoy and his family were about as Slytherin as one could get. Sirius scowled when he notice Malfoy was talking to his little brother Regulus.

Regulus: his perfect brother, everything that Sirius wasn't. Regulus was a Slytherin like everyone else in the Black family. Regulus embraced his pureblood status and the prejudices that came with it. Regulus was cruel and muggle-hating just like he was supposed to be. Regulus was not a disappointment. And Malfoy, the only son and heir of the family. Also happy to be a bigoted git. Both boys looked up at him when he came in the room. Malfoy smirked, Regulus…Sirius couldn't read the expression on his brother's face. Sirius looked away.

An old crotchety man in billowing navy cloak approached him with a crooked smile. "Young Master Black," he said—even his voice sounded like a precariously built tower of wood about to crash down on top of them. "What a pleasure it is to meet you at last. The black sheep of the family, so to speak, ha, ha. That certainly seems to be accurate. I'm told you were sorted into Gryffindor, is that true as well?"

"Yes, sir," Sirius said stiffly, already he hated the man, who was now cackling at Sirius gripping his silver cane in both his gnarled hands. "Excuse me, sir, I've been rather meaning to speak with, er—," Sirius let his sentence trail off as he left the man behind, shuddering slightly.

"Come back here, boy, I wasn't finished with you."

Reluctantly, Sirius turned back.

"Take this, I have no use for it, though I get the feeling you will quite soon." And the old man stuffed a small leather pouch into Sirius' hands. Sirius pulled open the strings to look inside. It was filled with gold Galleons.

"What are you giving me this f—?" he started, but the man had already disappeared into the crowd. Sirius stared at the place where the man had been. Had he imagined the conversation? Surely the man couldn't have moved away that quickly? And Sirius didn't even know who he was. Still, the pouch of Galleons in his hand was proof that the man had been there. Unnerved, Sirius pocketed the money and moved on.

His cousins, Bellatrix, Narcissa and Andromeda stood gossiping together in a corner. Andromeda, at least, had that dignity to look slightly uncomfortable with their topic of discussion, and though Sirius couldn't hear the conversation he was convinced it could be nothing good.

Much of the evening when by smoothly. Sirius spent most of it hiding behind furniture, sipping some alcoholic drink from a glass adorned with the Black family crest. No one else approached him, and Sirius didn't make and attempt to talk to anyone. Until he heard something he didn't expect from a group of people standing just in front of the chair he was using as his latest refuge.

"It's only a matter of time now before the Dark Lord seizes full control. The ministry can't do much against him and Dumbledore, can't keep him at bay for much longer," said the voice of his mother.

"Do you think so?" Sirius would recognize that drawl anywhere. The other person in the conversation was Malfoy's mother. "I imagine it's inevitable, but surely a few years at least. Or is the Dark Lord really that powerful already?"

"Oh, he's powerful. And soon the world will be rid of ever muggle and mudblood on this earth you mark my words. It will be real witches and wizards, purebloods who have power again by the time the Dark Lord is done, just you wait."

Sirius dropped his drink, glass shattering over the floor, jumping out from behind the chair so quickly he tripped and fell on the broken glass at his feet. His mother shrieked. He bit his lip against the pain of several sharp shards of glass pushing up into his palm.

"Don't use that word," said Sirius, when he had recovered his dignity, fuming.

"What was that?" his mother snapped.

"I said, don't use that word. 'Mudblood.' Don't use it."

"I'll use that word whenever I damn-well please. This world could do without the filthy mudblood scum and blood traitors you seem to call friends." She got closer to him, holder her finger up as though accusing him of some heinous crime.

"Yeah? Well, I'm proud to be their friends. There's nothing wrong with being muggle-born and it's disgusting that no one in this room gets that."

"You will not insult me in my own house, Sirius Orion Black." Everyone in the room had gone quiet and turned to watch the spectacle.

"Shut up!" Sirius shouted. "Shut—oof!" His mother had slapped him across the face, sending him staggering into the chair he had previously been hiding behind.

"Go back to your room," she snarled. "It was a mistake to have you down here in the first place." Clenching his teeth together and glaring at his mother, Sirius turned and stalked off, clutching his good hand to his face and breathing heavily. Not a single person moved to help him or looked in horror at how his mother had treated him. Some of them even stared contemptuously at him as though he had been in the wrong. Sirius wasn't surprised.

He stormed up the stairs, hot angry tears spilling from his eyes. He'd had enough. He slammed his bedroom door when he went in, stripped off his dress robes and kicked open his school trunk. He stuffed as many things as he could fit inside, school clothes, the posters that hadn't been stuck permanently to his wall, all his books, his cauldron and potions kit, and several years' worth of personal effects he'd collected form his friends while at Hogwarts. Quickly he donned and old, holey t-shirt, a pair of black ripped up jeans and his tattered black trainers and stuck his wand in his pocket.

Sirius thrust open his bedroom window and warm, muggy air spilled into his bedroom. Cursing his inability to use magic, Sirius carefully lowered his trunk to the ground using the sheets and duvet from his bed, then he climbed down after on the uneven brick wall. By the time he got to the bottom, his fingers burned and his palm stung. It was sticky with blood, but Sirius ignored it. He picked up his trunk and left without looking back. He hadn't even bothered to close the window.

At the road, he pulled his wand from his pocket and stuck it out in from of him. The bang a few seconds later made him flinch. He hoped the people inside Grimmauld place hadn't heard. Sirius stuffed his trunk and a galleon into the conductor's hands and scrambled onto the Knight Bus.

"Get me away from here as fast as possible. I want to go to the Potter's Manor. It's not too far from here."

"As you wish, sir," said the conductor, he seemed transfixed by the galleon in his hand. Coming to his senses, he knocked hastily on the driver's window and gave him Sirius' desired location, and with a bang, they were gone.

"Is there anything else I can do for you sir?" The conductor asked. Sirius shook his head.

Several minutes later, they were outside a long dusty path that lead to a grand looking manor house standing alone in a massive garden lined with tall, crisply manicured trees.

"This is as far as we can take you, sir," the conductor told him, handing Sirius his trunk and looking apprehensively out the window at the raging storm, as though genuinely worried for the boy.

"Here's fine, thank you," Sirius said. He took his trunk and stepped out of the bus. One loud bang later and the huge purple bus was gone. Sirius was standing alone outside his best friend's house in the pouring rain, his heart pounding frantically. Sirius dragged his trunk up the dirt path. He could see James' bedroom window from where he stood, even through the rain. Lightning flashed across the sky, followed closely by a deafening clap of thunder.

James' window was on the second floor. It was an easy clime for Sirius, though, he couldn't see yet how he would get his trunk up. He tucked it under a bush, protected from the rain and from the sight of anyone who might be coming outside in the morning and began to scale the wall.

Perching on the window sill, Sirius knocked hard on the window. A few seconds later, Sirius saw the face off his best friend looking confused and disheveled peering out the window at him. James' face went from groggy bewilderment to alarm in seconds. Relief flooded Sirius' chest. James unlatched the window and threw it wide open, and Sirius, sopping wet and nearly sobbing, tumbled inside.


	4. Chapter 4

Sirius woke abruptly from the nightmare, sitting up with a start. Sunlight filtered through the crack in the curtains pulled lazily around his four-poster and it took him a minute to remember that he was at Hogwarts.

"Are you alright, Sirius?" Remus asked softly from the bed beside his, already half-dressed in his school uniform.

"Yeah," said Sirius, "Bad dream." He rubbed his eyes, running his fingers through his hair. It had grown back while he had been at James house. Shaking the memory from his head, Sirius swung his legs over the side of his bed, shoved aside the curtains and stretched, then bent down, rummaging through his trunk for his clothes. He felt a prickle on the back of his neck, and when he looked up, Remus was still looking at him. Remus quickly looked away and Sirius' heart twanged a bit. He didn't need Remus of all people feeling sorry for him.

"I really am fine, Moony, I just had a weird nightmare is all."

"What? Oh, yeah. Good."

Sirius moved around his bed, picked up a pillow and chucked it into the bed on his other side. There was yelp and James emerged, hair mussed, looking rather alarmed.

"Time to get up, Prongise!" said Sirius. Grumbling, James got out of bed. His pajamas were just as rumpled as his hair. His left pant leg had gotten stuck, bunched around his knee, and his shirt was buttoned up the wrong way. Sirius raised an eyebrow. James looked down and rolled his eye, then unbuttoned his shirt and began preparing for the day too.

Peter, who had obviously been woken by James shout, poked his head out of his curtains, got tangle and tumbled off the bed onto the ground. Everyone laughed, though Peter looked slightly disgruntled.

Breakfast was an oddly quiet affair. There was a strange tension in the air and Sirius didn't know how to break it. Not even James had stood up to declare his love for Lily Evans. McGonagall gave the four of them an odd look as she handed out their schedules, but she didn't say anything.

"Transfiguration first," Remus commented at last, looking at his schedule.

"Oooh, Minnie first period on a Monday," Sirius said, wincing. "Have you decided when quidditch tryouts with be, Prongs?"

"Not yet, why? You're not trying out, are you?"

"I don't know, I did a lot of practicing over the summer. I figured I might give it a shot." James looked incredulously at Sirius for a moment, then seemed to realize that he probably shouldn't express doubt in his friends. Sirius leaned back from the table, a hand on his breast. "I'm wounded, Prongs, wounded." And just like that the tension was gone. Had Sirius imagined it?

Professor McGonogall's room was nearly empty when they got there.

"Ah, there you boys are, take a seat." She said as she shuffled around the room, gathering papers and making her way back to her desk.

The four of them took their seats at the front of the class all in a line. Sirius sat down between Remus and James and Peter sat on James' other side.

"I'm impresses Mr. Pettigrew, I wasn't sure you would be able to score high enough on your Transfiguration OWL to move on to NEWT level in my class. I suppose the three of you had something to do with it?" she asked.

"We all studied together," said Remus. Sirius smirked. Yeah, they studied together, they also managed to turn James, Peter and himself into animagi to accompany Remus on the full moon. There was no way any of them was going to fail that OWL. James especially had never failed a Transfiguration exam in his life.

Even by the time bell rang the classroom was only half-full.

"As you can see," Professor McGonogall told them. "This class is much smaller than all of your previous Transfiguration classes with me. I have taken only those students with Exceeds Expectation or higher on their OWL exams. This class will be one of the hardest classes you will take this year." (Peter moaned softly.) "I expect nothing less than your best on all homework assignments and exams. The content we will be learning in this class will be difficult, but I trust you all have the ability to keep up. Among other topics, this year we will be learning primarily human Transfiguration, which is of course among the most difficult kind of magic known today."

McGonogall continued to explain the class and lay out a schedule for most of the next half hour. By the time they were done, she had assigned an essay on theory of human transfiguration and three chapters of reading from their textbooks.

They were met with very similar reactions from most of their other teachers too. Flitwick informed them that they would be learning some of the most advanced charms he taught. Slughorn told then they would be working with more dangerous and volatile potions. In History of Magic, Remus informed them even he had trouble understanding Binns.

"We have three essays, four textbook chapters, we have collect all these ingredients for Slughorn, and we have to practice Silencing charms and stunning spells for Flitwick and it's only lunch," Sirius groaned as they followed the crowd into the Great Hall.

"We have our first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson next," Peter said when they had finished.

"I wonder what Lunly will be like?" said Sirius.

"Well, we won't have to wait long." James led them all around a corner to Lunly's classroom, checking his schedule to make sure he had gotten the room correct. There was a larger group of students in Professor Lundy's class than there had been in any of their other classes. Professor Lundy stood at the top of the class on top of his desk, smiling and waiting for everyone to file in.

"Weird bloke, isn't he?" Peter muttered.

"Certainly seems that way," Sirius replied. He didn't take his eyes off the professor as they found four empty seats and sat down.

"Let's hope he knows what he's doing," said Remus. "After five different professors in as many years, I've begun to lose hope that there's anyone competent left." Sirius snorted.

"Welcome to my class students, I trust you are all well?" Professor Lunly called from atop his desk. He was tall and willowy and his voice was surprisingly powerful. "As I understand it you have had a number of teachers in this course, so the material you've covered is rather inconsistent, is that correct?" Several people nodded, many just stared at Lunly as though he were insane. Towering over the class as he was, Sirius conceded that he looked it. "First I would like to ask you, who can tell me the difference between a curse, a hex and a jinx?" Sirius was sure at one point that he had read something about the difference between the three types of spells were, but he couldn't recall them now. Remus probably knew. Remus always knew. Sure enough, when no one else had raised their hand, Lunly asked, "No one?" Remus dragged his fingers through his hair and stuck his hand in the air.

"Yes, Mr…?"

"Lupin, sir."

A flicker of realization flashed across Lunly's face as he said, "Ah, Mr. Lupin. Well? You have an answer for me?"

"Jinxes, hexes and curses are all part of a family of spells intended to have a negative effect on the recipient. Each has a varying level of severity, with jinxes being only irritating in most cases and curses ranging from stong negative effects, to severe dark magic such as the three unforgivable curses."

"Very good, Mr. Lupin, they told me you were a bright boy, very well, ten points to Gryffindor." Remus stiffened slightly at Lunly's words. Clearly the rest of the staff had told Professor Lunly about Remus'… condition. Sirius nudged Remus gently in the shoulder, and Remus relaxed again.

"As Mr. Lupin so eloquently put it just now, jinxes, hexes and curses are all part specific group of spells that have a negative effect on the person they are used on. The purpose of this class is to learn these spells, what they do and how they can be defended against.

"As I walk around the classroom, I want each student to give me a curse, jinx or hex. Perhaps it's one you know, perhaps it's your favorite spell. Perhaps it's something you've used on a fellow student." Here, Lunly winked, stepping down from his desk at last. "A point will be awarded to the house of any student who can also give me the counter-curse. No repeats, please."

"Well, so far no one's come at risk of dying so that puts him above the last professor already." Sirius leaned into Remus, whispering in his ear. Remus chuckled over the silence. Lunly, now at the back of the room paused for a moment, looking up expectantly. Remus smothered his laughter and Lunly turned back to the student he was talking to.

They made their way to the door at the bell, and just as they reached it, Professor Lunly called, "Mr. Lupin, if I could talk to you for a moment. Sirius watched the smile slide off Remus' face and he walked slowly back over to Lunly, reluctantly. Sirius, James and Peter hung back by the door to wait.

"If the three of you could leave please? Don't you have classes to get to? Don't worry, I have your friend in good hands."

"But sir," Sirius started, "You can't just—,"

"I'm afraid that I can, Mr…"

"Black. And why can't we wait here? What's so important that—,"

"Leave it, Sirius," James interrupted, tugging on Sirius' arms. Fuming, Sirius allowed James and Peter to pull him from the room.

"What's the matter with you, Padfoot? Lunly just wants to talk to him. It's not like he's going to abduct Moony or anything."

"I don't trust the man. You heard what he said earlier, didn't you?"

"I heard a man saying a perfectly ordinary thing to Remus about how smart he was. No one aside from us was ever going to figure out that Remus was a werewolf from just that."

"I…" Sirius was saved the embarrassment of having to struggle through a solid argument by the door opening and Remus coming back out, looking a little overwhelmed, but otherwise, unharmed.

"What did he say, Rem?" asked James.

"He just told me that he used to work in St. Mungo's treating mostly magical creature bites and that he'd seen a few werewolves before and that if I needed anything I could come and talk to him."

"There, you see, Sirius? Lunly just wanted to talk." Sirius felt his face heating up.

"C'mon," Sirius said awkwardly. "What have we got next?"


End file.
